Grant Enfinger racing for clean sweep of ARCA's Alabama events

View full sizeGrant Enfinger of Fairhope checks under his car during preparations for the 2010 ARCA Racing Series race at Talladega Superspeedway. Enfinger will be driving the No. 90 Ford in the International Motorsports Hall of Fame 250 at Talladega on Friday, May 3, 2013. (Press-Register file)

TALLADEGA, Alabama - Fairhope driver Grant Enfinger will try to make it two-for-two in ARCA Racing Series events in Alabama in 2013 when he races in the International Motorsports Hall of Fame 250 at Talladega Superspeedway on Friday.

Enfinger won the ARCA-Mobile 200 on March 9 at Mobile International Speedway for his first victory on the racing circuit, although that inaugural win almost came at ARCA's other Alabama track.

Enfinger made a splash on the national racing scene in his first Talladega outing in 2009. Driving his self-prepared Grant Enfinger Racing Ford in only his sixth ARCA race, Enfinger rode the draft to a surprising third-place finish.

In 2010's ARCA race at Talladega, Enfinger led more laps than any other driver - Laps 52 through 93. Unfortunately for Enfinger, Dakoda Armstrong led Lap 94 - and that was the final lap of the race.

Enfinger has competed three more times at Talladega, finishing 13th in the 2011 ARCA race, in which he led eight laps, and placing 22nd and 12th in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races in 2010 and 2011.

"We obviously had a good run the first time being here," Enfinger said. "We've had some other good chances, and I've been a little bit gutsier with some of my moves, and sometimes that has cost us some positions."

The ARCA cars hit the 2.66-mile, high-banked oval at 10 a.m. today for practice. Enfinger said he'll put a contending car on the track.

At the season-opening superspeedway race in February at Daytona, Enfinger also thought he had a strong car. But a mechanical failure early in the race relegated him to a 39th-place finish.

"We qualified sixth at Daytona and had a really strong car, probably the strongest superspeedway car I've been in," Enfinger said. "At Talladega, you have to put yourself in the right position, but you have to have a car that can do that. I think we've got a good car, and we're just hoping the breaks go our way in the race. I feel good about it."

"Grant and I were at Talladega a few years ago together where we had a very strong run along with leading laps," said Howard Bixman, Enfinger's crew chief and Team BCR's manager. "This week, the crew built one of the strongest Ford Fusions we have ever had. We expect to be a contender and nothing less. I know we will produce great results since the entire Team BCR crew have been working long hours at the shop to be able produce a competitive car with horsepower from RoushYates Engines.

"Grant is a very talented driver, and I'm looking forward to a great weekend."

Enfinger bounced back from his Daytona trouble to win at Mobile. In the third race of the season on Sunday at Salem Speedway, Enfinger pulled out a seventh-place finish despite being involved in a wreck. He enters Talladega sixth in the ARCA season standings.

As a local driver, Enfinger posted a popular victory in Mobile. He'll have plenty of support at Talladega, too.

"The first time I was racing here, my dad and some other guys and some folks from (then-sponsor) BeasleyAllen rented a Greyhound and came up and boiled shrimp in the parking lot," Enfinger said. "I think they're doing that again. Just walking around the infield, you see people you know. It's a lot cooler than walking around the infield at Michigan, where you never see anyone you know."

After practice today, the ARCA cars qualify at 5:05 this afternoon.

The International Motorsports Hall of Fame 250 starts at 4 p.m. Friday and will be televised live by Speed.